Posted in bible, faith, genesis, johan's ark

God, Noah, the ark, and the origin of wisdom

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday I wrote an essay about Thomas Jefferson and how he had edited the bible down to 46 pages. He excised all mentions of anything supernatural or miraculous, including the  flood and the ark.

Genesis 1-11 is often the first battle ground for people to begin chipping away at the truth of God’s word. They cannot believe the 6-day creation, the fall of man, the global flood, the ark, the tower of Babel and so on. So they don’t.

But disbelieving those things means one does not believe by faith that God has revealed Himself in His word. It also means they don’t believe the bible is true. It further means they believe themselves a better barometer of truth-detection than God.

However, God is sovereign. That means He has dominion over all of creation, from the furthest universe down to the deepest atom.

I’m struck by one example of His dominion over all, how he calls the animals to do His will.

For example, the ark- He sent the animals to Noah.

“Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.” (Genesis 6:20)

He sent the ravens to Elijah.

“You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.” (1 Kings 17:4, 6)

He sent a fish to Jonah

“And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17)

He sent a worm to Jonah

“But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.” (Jonah 4:7)

God sees the smallest bird, the tiniest worm, and the most discouraged Christian. Nothing escapes His eye. We have a God who sees.

“So she [Hagar] called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” (Genesis 16:13)

Could not a mighty God who creates, sees, redeems, gives grace, and judges make an ark to hold animals? Boat builders even do that.

Johan did it. He is a Dutch man who created a life sized replica of the ark.

Dutch Creationist Rolls Out Life-Size Noah’s Ark Replica
“A carpenter who spent three years and more than £1million building a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark has opened it to the public. … The narrative of the ark, in which God commands Noah to prepare for a great flood sent to purge the world of evil, specifies that the boat was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. Mr Huibers converted this ancient unit of measurement, which is based on the length of the forearm, to determine that his recreation had to be about 450ft long. This puts the boat, nicknamed ‘Johan’s Ark’, at more than half the length of the Titanic”

Johan’s feat of biblical proportions
“Floods of visitors are amazed by Dutch builder’s replica of Noah’s life-saving ark. Just as the first storms of winter roll in, Dutchman Johan Huibers has finished his 20-year quest to build a full-scale, functioning model of Noah’s Ark. Huibers used books 6 to 9 of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, as his inspiration, following the instructions God gave Noah down to the last cubit. Translating to modern measurements, Huibers came up with a vessel that works out to a whopping 130m long, 29m across and 23m high. Perhaps not big enough to fit every species on Earth, two by two, as described in the Bible, but plenty of space, for instance, for a pair elephants to dance a tango. Johan’s Ark towers over the flat Dutch landscape and is easily visible from a nearby highway where it lies moored in the city of Dordrecht, south of Rotterdam.”

“Another visitor, Martin Konijn, was impressed with the level of detail. “You might know the story of Noah, okay, but if you see this you begin to get an idea of how it would actually have worked in practice.”

Exactly.

And of course the ark could hold two of each kind. (Not species, kind. Not variety, kind. Not sub-species, kind).

GotQuestions gets technical.

Thus, the ark could have been up to 550 feet long, 91.7 feet wide and 55 feet high. These are not unreasonable dimensions. But how much storage space does this amount to? Well, 550 x 91.7 x 55 = 2,773,925 cubic feet. (If we take the smallest measurement of cubit, 17 inches, we end up with 1,278,825 cubic feet). Of course, not all of it would have been free space. The ark had three levels (Genesis 6:16) and a lot of rooms (Genesis 6:14), the walls of which would have taken up space. Nevertheless, it has been calculated that a little more than half (54.75%) of the 2,773,925 cubic feet could store 125,000 sheep-sized animals, leaving over 1.5 million cubic feet of free space (see – http://www.icr.org/bible/bhta42.html).

John Woodmorappe, author of the definitive Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, estimated that only about 15% of the animals on the ark would have been larger than a sheep. This figure does not take into account the possibility that God may have brought Noah “infant” animals, which can be significantly smaller than adult animals.

How many animals were on the ark? Woodmorappe estimates about 16,000 “kinds.” What is a “kind”? The designation of “kind” is thought to be much broader than the designation “species.” Even as there are over 400 dog breeds all belonging to one species (Canis familiaris), so many species can belong to one kind. Some think that the designation “genus” may be somewhat close to the biblical “kind.”

Nevertheless, even if we presume that “kind” is synonymous with “species,” “there are not very many species of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. The leading systematic biologist, Ernst Mayr, gives the number as 17,600. Allowing for two of each species on the ark, plus seven of the few so-called “clean” kinds of animals, plus a reasonable increment for known extinct species, it is obvious that not more than, say, 50,000 animals were on the ark” (Morris, 1987).

Ultimately, today’s post and yesterday’s post are about faith. Do you believe what God says about Himself? Do you believe that what is written in the bible is directly inspired by the Holy Spirit? Do you believe it was accurately recorded and represents the best and only reliable information we have about God? Do you believe the things that the bible says happened actually happened as written? (Ten plagues, Red Sea parting, Lazarus raised from the dead etc?)

These are questions we need to ask ourselves, and be ready to make an answer to all who ask. (1 Peter 3:15). If you have an area where you could study more so as to give a reasonable and accurate answer, do so. Answers in Genesis exists to give people who are curious about these things a scientific and sound basis for questions such as how the animals could fit into the ark, why fossil dating is unreliable, and so on.

“Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to enabling Christians to defend their faith and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus particularly on providing answers to questions surrounding the book of Genesis, as it is the most-attacked book of the Bible.”

It’s about faith. Don’t be like Thomas Jefferson and claim that some things Jesus said were like diamonds and the rest a dungheap. It’s all good. Even the stuff you have a hard time believing. After all, if God was so common and understandable, He wouldn’t be God. It is about faith in His wisdom, not ours.

He offers the best knowledge,the highest wisdom and the most solid protection. Lean into His understanding

If we lean onto our own wisdom, it is no different than a man who uses a newspaper to wrap himself in to keep the cold away. Man’s words will tear and rip and the knowledge he finds in those pages will melt away in the first storm or rain.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 source

“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5)

Faith is a holy thing–

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,” (Jude 1:20)

In the end, it is faith that is the victory–

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”  (1 John 5:4)

God is sovereign. He calls the animals to do His bidding. He tells Noah to build the ark. He sends the animals to it. “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22). God is not asking us to build an ark. All He commands us to do is to believe. (John 6:29). Do you?

Posted in frugal, miser, Proverbs

Avoid the stingy man’s table

Posted on by elizabethprata

As we enter the feasting Christmas season, there is a small but powerful wisdom verse I’d like to share. During this holiday season we are often invited to places, to people’s homes, or to work-related parties. We eat with people as part of the fellowship of the season. Breaking bread over a table in hospitable fellowship should be a sweet way to celebrate the Savior. And it usually is! However, as with most things involving people (because we are all sinners), even accepting a simple invitation to sup with bosses, peers, friends, acquaintances is fraught with mine fields of the emotional and spiritual kind.

You would not think, at first, that a kind invitation to break bread at a person’s table would be fodder for deep consideration and caution. But it is- IF the person is stingy.

I am not talking about frugal because their income demands it. I am not talking about careful shepherding of the financial blessings Jesus bestows because they love Jesus and follow Him and His ways. I am talking about a person whose life is defined by how much money they do or do not have, a true miser.

The Dictionary defines miser as “One who lives very meagerly in order to hoard money.”

The bible has much to say on the subject of generosity and giving. Therefore it makes sense that there are warnings about miserly behavior. Here is the verse and afterward are three commentaries explaining it-

Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies,
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
(Proverbs 23:6-7)

Barnes Notes: The hazard here is the hospitality of the purse-proud rich, avaricious or grudging even in his banquets.

Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible: Of him that hath an evil eye – Never eat with a covetous or stingy man; if he entertains you at his own expense, he grudges every morsel you put in your mouth. This is well marked by the wise man in the next verse: “Eat and drink, saith he: but his heart is not with thee.”

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: Beware of deceitful men, whose courtesies even you will repent of having accepted.

Should you eat with a Scrooge? The bible warns against it.

Just a quick devotional thought this morning. As always, be generous with your love, with your Spirit and with your money. ‘Tis the season … the season of Jesus all year long!

Posted in deism, inerrant, jefferson bible, thomas jefferson

Thomas Jefferson’s bible and the danger of doubt

Posted on by elizabethprata

I love God and I love Jesus. I honor the Holy Spirit who dwells within me as a deposit of the guarantee from Jesus as to my adoption and future inheritance. I acknowledge God as the Creator of all the universe and everything that is within it.

The Old Testament is overlooked by today’s liberal, superficial, felt-needs Christian. I am a fundamentalist- I believe everything the bible records is literally true. That means I believe and celebrate the fact that God made the world and all the animals in six days. He sent the global flood. There was an ark and two of every kind of animal was on it, along with 8 God-honoring people. He is the all-powerful, supreme creator and has dominion over everything. The miracles happened. Hell exists. Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected by the power of God. He ascended in a cloud and will return the same way, the second time to judge the living and the dead.

You would not believe how many people disbelieve one or more of those fundamentals. Christians, even church leaders, have said to me point blank, “Oh, I just take the Old Testament with a grain of salt.” The reason so many Christians disbelieve the basics of the bible is that for many decades now, centuries even, non-literalists have chipped away at the truth of God’s word.

They say that slow evolution and a Creator God are compatible doctrines. They say that there is no hell and our spirit expires at death. They say that all the animals could not possibly have fit onto the ark, and a flood could not possibly have covered all the world’s mountaintops. (Genesis 7:19).

In the recent Presidential election cycle, I read much from the Republicans and the conservatives vaunting America’s supposed Christian status as a nation. They turn to the Founding Fathers as “proof” that the writers of the Constitution were Gospel-saved, bible believing Christians and that their foundational documents of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution spring from biblical precepts.

Not so.

The main writer of the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. He wrote the famous line that opens the second paragraph:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Not many people know that Jefferson had in mind a different Creator than the bible presents. Jefferson was a product of the new secular humanism and the naturalism sweeping French and British philosophical circles. Jefferson was a Deist, which the LA Times defines in their article about Jefferson as,

Deists differed from traditional Christians by rejecting miraculous occurrences and prophecies and embracing the notion of a well-ordered universe created by a God who withdrew into detached transcendence.

To that end, Jefferson took a razor blade and carefully cut out every single reference in the bible to the supernatural miracles of Christ. He also disbelieved “receiving of the Holy Spirit, angels, Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, a future kingdom, and eternal life, Heaven, Hell and punishment in everlasting fire, the Devil, prophecy, and the soldiers falling backwards to the ground in response to Jesus stating, “I am he.” (source)

If necessary, Jefferson would even cut a sentence in half if the latter part of it contained a reference to a miracle.

In a letter to William Short in 1820, Jefferson wrote:

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence: and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate therefore the gold from the dross; restore to him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift them apart. (source)

He called the resulting text The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. We know it now more informally as The Jefferson Bible. “Jefferson said his “wee little book” of 46 pages was based on a lifetime of inquiry and reflection and contained “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”

Imagine, excising God’s word from its full and glorious revelation of our Holy and Graceful God, down to a wee little book of sayings.

I want to state with all fervency, that to begin to unravel one verse because it doesn’t suit your sensibilities, or to excise one passage because it does not agree with your version of possible occurrences, is traversing down the same dangerous road Jefferson traveled. Cutting away the flood means you also call Peter a liar because he preaches the flood in 2 Peter 2:5. Disbelieving Jonah was swallowed by a fish makes Jesus out to be a liar because he said Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, in Matthew 12:40.

The bible is a tightly woven tapestry of truth and beauty. Either you believe all of it or none of it. The good news is, God gives us the faith to believe and the courage to proclaim. He opens our mind to the truths He has delivered to us. He is great and wonderful.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (Luke 24:45)

Will you turn to the left just a bit, and begin to doubt the 6-day creation, the Flood and the ark? Or will you turn to the right a little bit and step into the eternal glory of His truth, all of it, without doubt?

If you are beginning to doubt, ask Jesus for help! He will give it! The Holy Spirit will strengthen you and bring to mind all the things you should know, if you read His word and pray for knowledge.

Here is Daniel of the T.R.U.T.H. Group showing what happens when you start to disbelieve the fundamentals. He is pointed from the beginning. He really gets going at 3:30 and at the end watch even after the music starts. He comes back to say something funny.

Beware of Jefferson’s razor. He doubted. He began chipping away. At the end he was left with only a wee little book … and a long eternity.

Posted in chemical, damascus, syria

Mysterious ‘Site 911’ in Israel Raises Eyebrows

Posted on by elizabethprata

Israel National news reported last week—

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named “Site 911,” at an Israeli Air Force base near Tel Aviv. “Expected to take more than two years to build, at a cost of up to $100 million, the facility is to have classrooms on Level 1, an auditorium on Level 3, a laboratory, shock-resistant doors, protection from nonionizing radiation and very tight security. Clearances will be required for all construction workers, guards will be at the fence and barriers will separate it from the rest of the base,” The Washington Post reported. Security concerns at the site are so great that non-Israeli employees hired by the builder can come only from “the U.S., Canada, Western Europe countries, Poland, Moldavia, Thailand, Philippines, Venezuela, Romania and China,” according to a Corps notice.

“The employment of Palestinians is also forbidden,” it says.

“According to security regulations, the site “shall have one gate only for both entering and exiting” and “no exit or entrance to the site shall be allowed during work hours except for supply trucks.” Guards will be Israeli citizens with experience in the Israeli air force. Also, “the collection of information of any type whatsoever related to base activities is prohibited.”

More at link. Israel is becoming more security conscious every day. Their reliance on their military is a good thing, otherwise I’m sure that as a nation they would have been obliterated by now. And, after all, it is God who allowed their successes so far.

However, there is such a thing as over-reliance. Today at the opening of the Cabinet meeting, Israel Prime Minister Netanhyau said, “Therefore, we must – and are capable of – standing against this. We will also withstand the international pressure, were it not for which, we would not have reached this point. Today, this is what is required from leadership in Israel – to have no illusions, to stand up for the vital interests of the State of Israel and to rebuff the pressure to bring Gaza into every home in Israel. This is what we are doing and will continue to do.”

However, their continued run of success will only make them ever more reliant on their military and further from remembering that God is behind it. As a matter of fact the Israel Defense Force tweeted, “Our job is to minimize the need for a miracle, even in Hanukkah. We must always be ready.” . 

The Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39 will change that attitude. If not for God, Israel would be obliterated. I encourage you to read those two chapters, they are short but powerful in describing how God plans to show His holy face to all nations as personally He saves Israel from the surprise enemy attach that comes against them

In addition, today I read in Israel National News,

Report: Israeli Special Forces Tracks Chemical Weapons in Syria
IDF Special Forces are operating inside Syria to track chemical weapons, the London Sunday Times reported.

“IDF Special Forces are operating inside Syria to track chemical weapons, the London Sunday Times reported. The Israeli government has not commented on the report. The report from London comes hours after Syrian opposition forces released a video showing that Syrian President Bashar Assad has used chemical weapons in the commercial center of Aleppo. The newspaper stated that the IDF operations across the border are part of new secret operations to locate non-conventional weapons and to sabotage them to prevent their use.”

“We have known for years the exact location of Syria’s stockpile of chemical and biological weapons,” an Israeli source told The London Times. He noted that satellites and unmanned drones have helped locate the weapons. However, “In the past week we have received signs that munitions have been moved to new location,” according to the source. The IDF ordered the maneuvers after rejecting the idea of an aerial or ground assault to destroy Syrian President Bashar Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons, most of them bought from Russia.”

“One of the objections to a frontal attack was the chance that the chemicals might be released and cause a catastrophe to local villages and cities. If evidence mounts that Assad already has used chemical weapons, the United States and Israel might coordinate to carry out a ground invasion, according to the London newspaper.”

The IDF is really amazing, isn’t it?! Well, the proof of chemical weapon use they were looking for appears to have been confirmed

William Hague confirms ‘evidence’ of Syrian chemical weapons
“…[Foreign Secretary William] Speaking to the BBC at a security conference in the Gulf on Saturday morning, Hague was asked whether he had seen proof that Syria was preparing such weapons. “We have seen some evidence of that,” he said. “We and the US, as I said in parliament this week, have seen some evidence of that and that is why we have issued strong warnings about it. We have done so directly to the Syrian regime.” Pressed on what kind of evidence he had seen, Mr Hague replied: “We absolutely cannot be specific about that because clearly those are intelligence sources that these things come from. “But we have seen enough evidence to know that they need a warning and they have received that warning.”

World, what will you do? You know, the current dictator of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad’s father reportedly used hydrogen cyanide against his enemies in an uprising in 1982 when he was retreating from Damascus. In that event, 20,000 people died.

Right now US Secretary of State Clinton, Russia’s Putin, and a UN envoy are holding talks about the situation. They are saying that a free Syria cannot include Assad and that there needs to be a political transition. And look how well that turned out for Egypt. Mushy words like “political transition” in the face of a potential harsh reality of chemical death just don’t jibe. However, “Clinton stressed that the U.S. would continue to insist that Assad’s departure be a key part of that transition.” And indeed, there are signs that the Assad regime is in its final phase. How will they make him go? How may he decide to go? What may Damascus look like after he is gone? We will see.

Posted in jesus

The Light is here and His brightness is coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

Jesus is the Light.

“he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.” (2 Samuel 23:4)

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

The light we see now is but a pale flicker compared to His coming glory!

“For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

At the end, all will be bright —

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,” (Revelation 21:22-24).

Keep your eyes on the Light, not the darkness in between the light. And soon, we will be in glory, where there is no darkness at all, and everything we see will be JESUS!

Posted in abortifacients, friel, hobby lobby, morning after pill, obamacare, wretched radio

Wretched: Have a Hobby Lobby Christmas

Posted on by elizabethprata

Obamacare includes some health care items that businesses will be forced to provide employees. One of those is abortifacients, substances that induce abortion, such as the morning after pill. Hobby Lobby is owned by a Christian family and they oppose this. They went to court and lost. They are considering going out of business on purpose so as to remain in integrity with their Christian values. Watch Todd Friel at Wretched Radio explain:

Posted in frankenflies, jesus, key west, mutant mosquitoes, pestilence, prophecy

Unleash the Frankenflies!

Posted on by elizabethprata

Dengue Fever is back, and it is causing a fever among health officials. Outbreaks worldwide are increasing, and the Florida Keys are one of the places American officials are especially concerned about. World Health Organization (WHO) said in recent years it has become a major international public health concern. In 2010, Puerto Rico had the largest outbreak in history, reported health officials at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.

“The first native cases of dengue fever in Florida in more than 70 years began appearing in Key West in 2009, and they’re becoming more common…It’s not clear why the mosquito has become more abundant, reported Time Magazine in 2011. 2010 was a watershed year, with 2009 having had 22 locally acquired cases and the next year that number leaped to 66.

As of 2010 dengue fever is believed to infect 50 to 100 million people worldwide a year with 1/2 million life threatening infections. It has dramatically increased in frequency between 1960 and 2010 by 30 fold.

Dengue is a fever brought by “the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, dengue infects an estimated 220 million people a year — 2 million of whom develop a severe form called dengue haemorrhagic fever, which has no known cure. And it can be extremely painful,” reported the Time Magazine article. Quoting NPR, Time’s article continued,

“Dengue is considered a serious public health threat in Key West, Hawaii, south Texas and other Florida counties where it has been reported. But compared with its resurgence in Latin America, the outbreak in Key West is relatively minor.”

It is serious nonetheless, because officials do not know why it is happening. “The state’s public health veterinarian said in 2010, “We do know that we used to have dengue in Florida,” … “Why we’re currently experiencing an outbreak, I can’t answer that question.”

The FL Department of Health web page today states, “The number of dengue cases in Florida travelers returning from the Caribbean, Central and South America is higher than normal. If you are traveling to a tropical or sub-tropical area, you can protect yourself from dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases by following the suggestions on our Prevention page, including using insect repellent. You can get more information about Traveler’s Health at http://www.cdc.gov/dengue/travelOutbreaks/index.html”

So both locally acquired cases and foreign returnee-cases are on the rise.

In order to combat this disease, Florida officials are about to, as the Russia Today article wittily states, “Unleash the Frankenflies.”

Hundreds of thousands of mutated mosquitoes could soon be unleashed in Florida, but don’t worry: scientists say they have a plan. It might sound like something out of a low-budget horror film, but the US Food and Drug Administration really is considering whether or not they should allow scientists to send thousands upon thousands of genetically altered insects into the wild. If all goes as planned, mosquitos modified by some serious Frankenstein treatment will be introduced into the Florida Keys and ideally mate with skeeters that carry the deadly dengue fever, passing along in the process a fatal birth defect that will hopefully eradicate the offspring before birth. From there, scientists say they expect the population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the dangerous disease will be decimated in only a few generations without causing any major implications for the native ecosystem. “The science of it, I think, looks fine. It’s straight from setting up experiments and collecting data,” Michael Doyle of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District tells the Associated Press.

This will not end well. Even the guy they interviewed seemed to be saying that on paper it should all work out. He thinks.

But we know that when you start monkeying around with the natural order of things, it doesn’t work out. God told Adam to name the animals, not remake the animals. (Genesis 2:19-20). When man accepted the fallen angels’ ways and human-angel mutations happened, God shut it down. (Genesis 6). When man tried to re-make his own little world, at the Tower of Babel, God shut it down. (Genesis 11).

I the late 1800s, kudzu was imported from Japan as a shade foliage, and now we call kudzu “the weed that ate the south.” When sugar-cane beetles began overrunning the cane fields in Australia, they brought in cane toads to eat them. Now Aussies have a much bigger problem on their hands.

“The much maligned venomous cane toads earned their bad reputation shortly after being released into the Australian ecology in 1935 with the hope that they would control the destructive cane beetle population. They turned out to be failures at controlling beetles, but remarkably successful at reproducing and spreading themselves. About 3,000 cane toads were released in the sugarcane plantations of north Queensland in 1935. They now number well into the millions, and their still expanding range covers thousands of square miles in northeastern Australia.” (source NatGeo).

So this unleashing of genetically modified mosquitos has me skeptical just on the basis of past failures.

In addition, look at the end of history as prophesied in God’s word. Luke 21:11 Jesus promised there will be pestilences at the end of days. Revelation 6:8 again states the same, and gives specifics: a fourth of the world will die by sword, famine, pestilence and beasts. Death by beasts could include animals losing the fear of man and stalking them in their own attempts to get food, or the prophecy could mean rats,  fleas, ticks, mosquitos, and other dirty animals that traditionally have unleashed massive plagues on man.

Either way, the end time is a time when God is showing us through repeated warnings that He is in control. At some point the issues of today will increase beyond man’s ability to solve and control them. Science will fail. Governments will fail. God will strip away all man-made reliance on anything except upon HIM. It will be painful and it will mean death for many. Turn to Jesus now in reliance on His holy name and His good and great plan for your life. It is not painful, but blissful. Don’t wait. There are worse things coming for the unbeliever than mutant mosquitos, and there are wonderful things coming for the believer.

To become a believer you should repent of your sins, being sorry for these crimes against God, and pray to Jesus to forgive you. He was sent as the substitutionary sacrifice to pay God’s penalty for your sins, (the penalty is wrath) and God has accepted Jesus as the sacrifice, proving this by raising Him from the dead after three days. Jesus is in heaven now but He is coming back to judge the living and the dead. Believers will already be in heaven, safely dwelling in glorified bodies with Him. Sound good? It is! It is the GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST!

Posted in animal cruelty, bible, kindness, sociopath

Animal cruelty cases on the increase: what does it mean?

Posted on by elizabethprata

“He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.” (Deuteronomy 10:18) [A sojourner was a migrant, alien, or stranger]

The bible speaks to our duty to protect the vulnerable members of society. Servants, slaves, migrant workers, economic refugees, widows, children/orphans and the poor are mentioned often in the Old and the New testaments. A society’s morality is expressed through our compassion to these oft-overlooked and vulnerable segments of the population. An individual’s Christianity is expressed in one way through obedience to the precepts God laid down. Such as these–

“But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God” (1 Timothy 5:4).

“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:14-15)

These Christians commented about the values which in their view were expected by society and in society:

“Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.” ~Pearl S. Buck

“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.” ~Samuel Johnson, Boswell: Life of Johnson

Because they are vulnerable, and often marginalized, these society members are often the first to be targeted for exploitation. Yet the Proverbs say

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” (Proverbs 19:17)

In my opinion, one can use a society’s compassion for and protection of the vulnerable as a barometer of either the stability or the dissolution of a society. I don’t have any particular evidence to support my opinion except the most important evidence: God put many verses in the bible about Christian ethics and standards of behavior in society. The absence of these qualities would, to me, display the dissipation of a society.

I’ve said all that to bring me to my point. I’ve been noticing quite a few headlines reporting animal cruelty. I’d mentioned one recently, that in my rural and low crime county there have been incidents of severed dog heads places on a person’s porch.

I really hate to read about puppy and kitty cruelty, so I don’t. But the headlines are frequent and they are posted on a news media’s front page, therefore making them hard to escape seeing.

I won’t repeat the animal cruelty news headlines now, except to say that they are ghastly and troubling.

The evident rise in animal abuse is to me, a very big indicator of how society treats its vulnerable members and therefore how far they are from God. I am not saying that puppies and kitties and birds and goldfish and other pets pets are actual members of society. But as anyone knows, there is a link between sociopaths and animal cruelty cases.

“[S]tudies of the life of convicted sadistic murderers and serial murderers showed a startling proportion of those murderers had a history of animal abuse, often starting in childhood.” (source). There are many other sources which report the same thing.

Sociopaths start with torture and cruelty on small and helpless animals, and then move “up” to those who they perceive as vulnerable like elders, other children, the weak or the lame. The simple fact is that people who would do these kind of things to innocent and vulnerable animals are twisted sadists who often move on to doing the same thing to vulnerable human targets. Small animal cruelty today is happening with frightening regularity. What does that fact bode for the near future?

I believe it is indicative of the breakdown of one of God’s institutions of charity and protection of society’s vulnerable. I think the animal abuse is rising first and faster because there are fewer civil repercussions. However, it is suggestive of the violent nature of sin that is in all of us. What will it be like when the Holy Spirit stops restraining sin? (2 Thessalonians 2:7). I can’t bear to think.

As far as actual vulnerable members of any given society go, they are increasingly at risk in these sadistic days. I read that in the protests in Cairo that the Muslim Brotherhood was accused of paying gangs to rape women who attended, as a cruel intimidation ploy.

In 2008 a legal conference was held in Seattle Washington, and the Western Attorneys General who attended the panel discussion were told that human trafficking is increasing worldwide. I wonder how much more it may have increased since 2008.

In 2011 a study found that elder abuse is on the increase, too. The report begins, “A rising number of elder abuse cases threatens to overwhelm inadequately staffed adult protective service agencies in many states, according to a report released on Wednesday by the federal Government Accountability Office.”

In 2008 a study was conducted in Houston Texas, and among the immigrants sampled, almost 60% said they had been the victim of a crime within the previous three years.

Migrant worker abuse in Scotland

I can’t make a big statement or a final claim as to my point. I am not a sociologist. I only read the bible and I know that God wants us to be charitable toward the vulnerable, and to employ Christian ethics. When I see so many terrible tales of animal cruelty, to me it seems to be a terrible precursor to even worse coming evil against humans. I liken it to the tickle in your throat before the sinus infection comes.

In addition to the vulnerable part of the population we read about in the above verses, God does care for animals, too. He doesn’t speak about it a lot in the bible, lol, certainly not as much as He does about the poor, the stranger, the widow and the child, but He does warn us about taking care of  animals.

“The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.”  (Proverbs 27:23 NLT )

“Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,” (Proverbs 27:23 NLT)

Further, God created animals. He called Adam to shepherd and manage the garden and to name all the animals. He made a provision for them during the flood. He feeds the birds of the air. (Matthew 6:26). It seems that through the Proverbs verses and the examples of how God cares for animals that He would not take kindly to sadists torturing puppies and kittens. They may not be made in His image, but they are part of His creation and He gave them the breath of life.

My main point is this– Be kind in these last days. Kindness these days is a radical act.You read that a NY policeman went to a shoe store and bought a pair of boots for a homeless man, and then knelt to help him put them on. The photo went viral in a day. Why? Kindness is a radical act. People notice.

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10)

New York police officer Larry DePrimo gives a homeless man a pair of boots and socks in Times Square

Posted in Uncategorized

Weird news: a variety of news of the weird

Posted on by elizabethprata

About 60 power poles have spontaneously combusted in three Texas counties, causing residents across the three counties to lose power. Officials say it is due to heavy fog. “I can’t even say career – not in my lifetime have I heard of this,” said DPS Trooper D. L. Wilson. One witness said it was “Like having our own Olympic torch.”

Fire and ice mix as Russian volcano erupts for first time in 36 years
“Plosky Tolbachik volcano erupted in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula on Nov. 29. The volcano, located on the peninsula’s eastern coast, is erupting for the first time in 36 years, according to The Associated Press.”

Earlier in November I’d asked “Is the New Madrid fault zone waking up?” It seems the answer is…yes. This article asks, Monster Sinkholes Indication Major Earth Changes on The New Madrid Fault? They report, “According to Bloomberg, there has been “a sixfold increase in the number of earthquakes that have shaken the central part of the U.S. from 2000 to 2011″.

The article also talks about monster sinkholes, such as the one in Ohio
Ohio Sinkhole Devours Four Football Fields Of Land, Stretch Of State Highway 516 Near Dover

Or the sinkhole in Bayou Corne, Louisiana, which keeps on getting bigger and more gassy.

The strange booms are now being reported in 6 states in the last day

Arizona: Residents in communities in and around Verde Valley and as far as Flagstaff called 911 or their police and fire departments to report the strange booming sounds. “It sounded like thunder, but underground,” Swesey said. “Like muffled thunder. And all the dogs in the neighborhood, all of them that were outside all started barking at once.”

Texas/Oklahoma: Loud Booms Heard Across Texoma Has Confirmed Cause: sonic booms from military jets are the reported cause, but residents say they know the sound of sonic booms and this wasn’t it.

Rhode Island: While authorities still do not know the source, residents are sticking to their story saying they heard a large explosion coming from Narragansett Bay Monday night.  Reports of the phantom boom kept crews busy in both Barrington and Warwick after residents reported hearing the strange disruption around 11:30 p.m.

Alabama: Mysterious loud noise baffles residents, police

Georgia: Several Loud Booms Reported In Columbia County… Columbia County EMA director Pam Tucker tells WJBF News Channel 6, that quarry blasting and earthquakes have been ruled out as causes of loud booms and rumblings in Columbia County. Tucker tells us no blasting or quakes were going on at the times the booms and rumblings were reported.  A seismologist Tucker talked to checked all of his equipment and said that he sees no indication of earthquakes around any of the times he was provided.

The demand for exorcists is more than the Catholic Church can handle. So they set up a hotline. “Exorcist Hotline Created By Catholic Church In Milan, More Priests Available To Drive ‘Demons’ Out’